


slipping off the course that we prepared

by Isagawa



Series: Glory And Gore [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Ficlet, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Soulmarks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23286109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isagawa/pseuds/Isagawa
Summary: At first, Law thinks it's a bruise.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law
Series: Glory And Gore [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748254
Comments: 10
Kudos: 219





	slipping off the course that we prepared

At first, Law thinks it's a bruise. He may be used to overthinking everything, but this time he doesn’t; there's nothing to think about. His men were caught in a scuffle with a West Blue crew three days ago, and he might have been injured. He hadn’t felt it, but it would not be the first time he discovers a cut, a wound, a sore muscle afterwards. His body had been too accustomed to pain when he was younger for Law to always be aware of what it was going through. 

So when he undresses in the solitude of his cabin, and sees his reflection in the grained window of the bathroom, he doesn't think much of the large bruise on his left shoulder. It is not even blue; very yellow, rather, as if it were already several days old. That should set him thinking, because he hasn’t seen the bruise change from blue to violet to tired yellow. The contusion appeared suddenly, but he can't know that, because it's the first time in a while that he has found time to change clothes. The last few days have been pretty busy. 

Busy, as in: hiding from the Marines. Running from the Sabaody. Curbing the dangerous grin that threatened to surface because he saw a Celestial Dragon get punched square in the face _live_. Hoping that Eustass Kidd would have the decency to never cross his path again, and that Straw Hat had gotten away without too much trouble. All busy running away, Law hadn't been able to read the papers yet. Did not know that the strawhat crew had been beaten to a pulp by a Pacifista. That Straw Hat Luffy himself was missing. That preparations were being made for the public execution of Portgas D. Ace. All this he would find out in just forty minutes, when Bepo would loudly burst into his office with the latest issue of the Grand Line Times in his paw. 

All busy running away, Law had not yet taken time to understand that the patch had appeared on his shoulder, golden, at the precise moment Luffy had burst into the Auction Room. 

He would almost understand a few days later, noticing that the patch had not faded, and then would forget. 

He would truly understand the day after that; when his crew would receive from Jinbe the torn, bloody body of Straw Hat, and between the shouts, the orders, the smoke, the chaos– Law, entering the already sinking submarine, would feel a burning, painful sting gnawing at his shoulder. 

His footsteps would stop abruptly in the middle of the corridor, the surgical tool in his hand becoming cold as ice. He would sway a little, maybe. And he would think: _I can't give thought to it now. There's a dying man on my boat._

But he would know.


End file.
